Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Buys 3,577,428 Shares of Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBD)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBD) by 17.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,989,150 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 3,577,428 shares during the period. Banco Bradesco makes up 2.2% of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Banco Bradesco were worth $51,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Bradesco during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Bradesco during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Banco Bradesco during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Mayport LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banco Bradesco in the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Banco Bradesco in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $49,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Banco Bradesco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $2.50 to $3.20 in a report on Monday, August 19th.

Banco Bradesco Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of BBD opened at $2.63 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $2.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.60. Banco Bradesco S.A. has a 12 month low of $2.16 and a 12 month high of $3.65. The company has a market capitalization of $28.03 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Banco Bradesco (NYSE:BBD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The bank reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $9.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.47 billion. Banco Bradesco had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 6.68%. On average, analysts anticipate that Banco Bradesco S.A. will post 0.35 EPS for the current year.

Banco Bradesco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.0035 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Banco Bradesco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.04%.

Banco Bradesco Profile

Banco Bradesco SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services to individuals, corporates, and businesses in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Banking and Insurance. It provides current, savings, click, and salary accounts; real estate credit, vehicle financing, payroll loans, mortgage loans, microcredit, leasing, and personal and installment credit; overdraft and agribusiness loans; debit and business cards; financial and security services; consortium products; car, personal accident, dental, travel, and life insurance; investment products; pension products; foreign currency exchange services; capitalization bonds; and internet banking services.